Wale Adefarasin, the senior pastor of Guiding Light Assembly, has rejected claims by US President Donald Trump that Christians in Nigeria are facing genocide.
In a now-viral sermon video, Adefarasin said the violent killings of Christians in Nigeria are not new and do not amount to genocide.
He also described Trump’s warning of possible U.S. military intervention as exaggerated and politically motivated.
“What is happening in Nigeria does not amount to genocide against Christians,” Adefarasin said.
“Over 40 years that I have been a Christian, there have been killings in southern Kaduna, killings on the Plateau, there have been riots.
The pastor said religious violence has been part of Nigeria’s history, often triggered by unrelated global events.
“Sometimes, I think it was in France, an image of Prophet Muhammad was defaced, and as a result of that, there were killings of Christians in Nigeria,” he said. “It’s nothing new. It doesn’t amount to genocide.”
Recently, Trump charged that the Nigerian government was permitting what he described as a “systematic genocide” against Christians.
He threatened to make President Bola Tinubu stop the killings or face “global consequences,” adding that the U.S. would not ignore “religious persecution.”
Adefarasin countered that Western leaders often sensationalize Nigeria’s religious crises for political leverage.
“The way the West are talking about it, it’s as if a Christian steps on the street, his head will be blown off,” he said. “That’s not the reality here.”
The Christian Association of Nigeria, however, expressed disagreement. Its northern chairman, Reverend John Hayab, insisted there is a deliberate campaign to wipe out Christians in parts of the North by extremist groups.
“Muslim terrorists are systematically killing Christians to perpetuate Islamic ideology,” Hayab said in a statement on Tuesday.
Observers say the position of Adefarasin shows the deep divide among Christian leaders on how to interpret Nigeria’s decades-long religious violence, with some saying killings represent part of broader ethnic and political conflicts, while others insist they represent targeted persecution.
The attacks on the Christian communities have been continuous in states like Kaduna, Plateau, and Benue. Human rights organizations record thousands of deaths and abductions within the last ten years.
The U.S. recently redesignated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” over violations of religious freedom, a move that could invite sanctions or diplomatic restrictions.
Adefarasin, however, urged Nigerians not to look at the situation through Western lenses. “Peace will come from within,” he said. “Foreign intervention won’t solve Nigeria’s problem—it will only complicate it.”
